A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, Ninth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2018

Plan your poster presentation
Presenting research in alternative forums
Research and writing

A poster is a large board on which you lay out a summary of your research along with your most relevant evidence. It is a cross between a talk delivered orally and a written paper. In a poster presentation you can go into more detail than you can in a twenty-minute talk. But a poster is not just a research paper transferred to a larger canvas. It’s a selection of key elements of a research project (question, claim, data, significance) designed to welcome an audience of individuals who choose to stop and visit.

Poster sessions are usually held in hallways or in a large room filled with many presenters. People move from poster to poster, reading as their interests dictate but also asking questions of the presenters, who typically stand by their posters at designated times ready to discuss their research. In this sense, a good poster can turn your imagined conversation with your research community (see chapter 1) into a real one. Posters combine the advantages of writing and speaking. While posters, like written reports, should be self-explanatory, they also encourage presenters and their audiences (typically fellow researchers) to interact one on one. Those who read your poster have more control than a listener, and they can rely on prominent visual signals that you use to organize your material—boxes, lines, colors, and larger and smaller titles.

You can design your poster using available software and templates that produce a serviceable final product. For the text of the poster itself, however, follow the guidelines for a paper to be read aloud, with two additional considerations:

1. 1. Layer your argument. Present your argument visually in three levels of detail:

o ▪ Highlight an abstract or a problem statement and summary at the top of the poster (box it, use larger type, etc.).

o ▪ Under that introductory material, list your reasons as subheads in a section that summarizes your argument.

o ▪ Under that section, restate your reasons and group your evidence under them.

2. 2. Explain all graphs and tables. In addition to providing a caption for each graphic, add a sentence or two explaining what is important in the data and how they support your reason and claim (review 7.7 and 8.3.1).